Ghana wins Unilever Africa Idea Trophy

Team Kool-T from Ghana has emerged the winner of the third Unilever Africa Idea Trophy and will thereby be rewarded with an all-expense paid trip to London for the global final.

Team Classic from Nigeria came second at the competition which held in Johannesburg, South Africa. Both Team Kool-T and Team Classic will be on the London competition – Unilever Future Leaders League – in April.

Selected from universities across the continent, the winning teams will get an opportunity to showcase Africa’s talent at the global competition.

“The Unilever Africa Idea Trophy is designed for second and third year university students with the express intent of combatting youth unemployment on the continent by equipping young people with the skills required in the workplace,” the company said in a statement on Thursday.

It said that the competition was made up of multiple challenges across three main stages that build invaluable business acumen and leadership.

“Unilever has embarked on a mission to empower over one million youths in Africa with the tools and skills to be employable,” the Executive Vice President, Unilever Ghana Nigeria, Yaw Nsarkoh, said.

“The Unilever Africa Idea trophy is just one pillar of our youth employability commitment that aims to upskill our youth who are entering the job market,” he said.

This year, the competition partnered premium tea brand, Lipton, so that students could conceptualise and implement solutions to real-life business problems. Lipton provided the students with an exciting opportunity to present ideas that could change the face of the brand on the continent.

“The students are not left alone to solve real problems faced by global brands, they are supported in the form of mentorship from Unilever’s veteran business leaders, assistance from creative agencies, and access to resources and tools to bring their ideas to life while gaining practical knowledge about marketing and sales, finance and business strategy,” Nsarkoh said.

Meanwhile, a statement issued by Team Kool-T read, “This journey has been a life changing experience for Team Kool-T. Having this rare privilege to compete against some of the most talented, vibrant and amazing young people across Africa and emerging overall winners just gave us a priceless experience.

“We will give our all to make Africa proud at the global stage. Long live Unilever! Long live Africa.”